Jerusalem Crucified, Jerusalem Risen: The Resurrected Messiah, the Jewish People, and the Land of Promise

by Mark S. Kinzer

The good news (euangelion) of the crucified and risen Messiah was proclaimed first to Jews in Jerusalem, and then to Jews throughout the land of Israel. In Jerusalem Crucified, Jerusalem Risen, Mark Kinzer argues that this initial audience and geographical setting of the euangelion is integral to the eschatological content of the message itself. While the good news is universal in concern and cosmic in scope, it never loses its particular connection to the Jewish people, the city of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel. The crucified Messiah participates in the future exilic suffering of his people, and by his resurrection offers a pledge of Jerusalem's coming redemption. Basing his argument on a reading of the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of Luke, Kinzer proposes that the biblical message requires its interpreters to reflect theologically on the events of post-biblical history. In this context he considers the early emergence of Rabbinic Judaism and the much later phenomenon of Zionism, offering a theological perspective on these historical developments that is biblically rooted, attentive to both Jewish and Christian tradition, and minimalist in the theological constraints it imposes on the just resolution of political conflict in the Middle East. "Jerusalem Crucified, Jerusalem Risen is a careful but exciting reading of the NT through the lens of Luke-Acts . . . Kinzer shows that it is the principal link between the gospels and the letters of the NT, and that it unveils the Jewish-Gentile admixture of the early church in ways that answer fundamental questions about Christology, eschatology, ecclesiology, ethics, and missiology. Readers of this book will discover ways of seeing Jesus and the early church that will set all of Christian theology in a new light." --Gerald R. McDermott, Anglican Chair of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School "Kinzer's work is ground breaking. He focuses especially on Luke and Acts to show that Jerusalem then, now, and in the future is central to the hope of the Jewish messiah, Jesus--and thus to his ecclesial body, both Jew and gentile. The good news is geographical. Kinzer develops a new form of Christ-centred Zionism, eschewing millenarianism, and bloody battle scenarios. His work is changing and challenging theological maps for Jewish and gentile Christians." --Gavin D'Costa, University of Bristol "This is a fascinating book. Kinzer makes the case that Israel is so central to the gospel message that removing her from it, and its hope, seriously dilutes what the gospel is about. With many fresh takes on passages, he opens up this issue for renewed discussion. It is a conversation well worth having." --Darrell Bock, Dallas Theological Seminary Mark S. Kinzer is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Zera Avraham in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and President Emeritus of Messianic Jewish Theological Institute. He is the author of Postmissionary Messianic Judaism (2005), Israel's Messiah and the People of God (2011), and Searching Her Own Mystery (2015).

Genres: Judaism, Christianity

327 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 4, 2018

Reviews

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book. The author's thesis is fairly simple: the Gospel is intimately connected to the redemption of Jerusalem and the Jewish people, in particular in light of Jesus's federal representation and enactment of Israel's mission to the world. The author's treatment of the land in chapter 1 and the nature of Israel's redemption in chapter 3 are especially well-done. In a book of this length, it would be impossible to detail every relevant Scriptural passages. Nevertheless, it would have been interesting if the author had interacted more with Matt. 24 and other prophecies concerning Jerusalem's destruction, since he acknowledges that AD 70 was an act of divine judgment on the city. His treatment of Revelation is also unfortunately sparse.

It is in chapters 2 and 4 where the author proposes some considerably more controversial ideas. Chapter 2 is concerned with the temple, and Kinzer argues that Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection did not supersede the earthly temple, but that it did give acces to the heavenly temple through the atonement and made the eschatological temple possible. Nevertheless, there is still a role both for the earthly temple and even for temple sacrifices as efficacious methods of covenantal faithfulness on earth. Chapter 4 argues for a bilateral ecclesiology in which the Jewish church keeps Torah as a witness to the Gentiles; in particular he argues for the abiding validity of the sabbath, circumcision, and food laws. The author's exegesis is novel (to this reader) and deserves engagement, even though I think his treatment of temple theology is arguably inadequate. In particular, I think his treatment of the temple themes in Revelation is extremely underdeveloped. With regard to chapter 4, I can potentially see a role for continued Torah-practice among Jews--it seems clear that Paul does in fact allow for something like it. What is much more of a problem is the idea of, in essence, two churches, where Jewish congregations are separate from Gentile congregations. I do not believe this is at all what we see in the New Testament; Gal. 2, among other passages, strongly militates against such an idea.

The last chapters are also interesting because the author gives attention to the role of divine action in post-Biblical history in arguing for God's continued dealing with the Jewish race. This is a topic that is very rarely discussed and the author is to be commended for thinking through it. His contention that the Jewish people's continuity through history and their suffering (particularly in the modern world) was proleptically foreshadowed by Jesus in his own person is bound to be contested, but it is certainly thought-provoking.

one other flaw in Kinzer's approach is that he construes Judaism primarily in racial terms. This is a problem, because (while for some Jews race emphatically did play a part in their conception of themselves) the Old Testament portrays the covenant people as primarily marked out by practices rather than blood. Gentile procelites could enter the covenant via circumcision; many Egyptians became Jews during the Exodus; and there are examples, exceptional though they are, of Gentiles joining the covenant people. Thus, though the author's argument that for Israel to ultimately be restored the Jewish race must continue until the eschaton has merit, the author gives insufficient attention to the requirements of covenant membership and what they indicated about the status of Gentiles in the Old and New Testaments.

This book is difficult to rate, because the author's thesis and exegesis are in many respects fascinating, even though I remain unconvinced of some of the central ideas. This is, neverteheless, a very able defense of a Messianic Jewish perspective on the redemption of Israel, and I would highly recommend it to those interested in this topic.

The author graciously provided me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.